Official | AS Monaco sign midfielder Pelé from Rio Ave

AS Monaco last night completed the signing of midfielder Pelé from Portuguese side Rio Ave for around €5m.

The 26-year-old is thought to be a direct replacement for Brazilian midfielder Fabinho, who they sold to Liverpool earlier this summer.

Pelé, a Guinea-Bissau international, won Rio Ave’s player of the year last season, scoring 7 goals in 31 appearances.

The Portuguese midfielder expressed his delight in securing the move to the Stade Louis II to the club’s website: “I am very happy to join Monaco, they are an ambitious club competing in the Champions League and a contender in Ligue 1. It is a great motivation and a dream to represent Monaco. I cannot wait to meet the staff and my team-mates”.

Pelé becomes the fourth signing of the summer for Monaco, following the €20m transfer of Willem Geubbels from Lyon, and the investments in youth starlets Robert Navarro and Jonathan Panzo from Barcelona and Chelsea respectively.